Your Turn: March 22

:
March 21, 2014
: Updated: March 21, 2014 5:02pm

A reader defends President Barack Obama against charges that he has failed to stand up to Russian President Vladimir Putin, shown here gesturing after signing a treaty earlier this week to incorporate Crimea into Russia.

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After several months of crippling snowstorms and flooding, I really look forward to spring weather, green grass and flowers in bloom.

The advent of spring is also a great opportunity to turn over a new leaf on our dietary and exercise habits.

In fact, I've been told that hundreds of communities celebrate the advent of spring with something called the Great American Meatout.

Local health advocates host educational events, where they ask visitors to get a fresh start this spring with a healthy diet of vegetables, fresh fruits, legumes and whole grains.

For those who need a little encouragement, they have websites that provide useful information and a chance to pledge a healthy diet for one day or more.

Holden Clark

Fallen hero

We lost a true hero of World War II today.

Carl Clements, a member of the famous “Lost Battalion,” passed away in Kerrville at age 93.

Carl served his country as a POW of the Japanese for 42 months. Unlike most of the members of the 131st Field Artillery, who were made famous in the movie “Bridge Over the River Kwai,” Carl was shipped to Nagasaki, Japan, where he did slave labor in the shipyards before being sent to work in the mines a few months before the bomb was dropped.

Carl was very entertaining and one of the kindest, gentlest, most generous and honest men I have ever known.

The letter writer chides our president for not standing up to Vladimir Putin but doesn't say what he should actually do.

Mr. Putin has the upper hand because he knows that whatever President Obama or John Kerry says or does, the Republicans will automatically be against it. This has been going on for five years and is dividing our country.

We have a group of cowardly congressman who are so afraid of losing in their primaries that they oppose everything that this administration tries to accomplish.

In many cases, this obstructionism can be deemed harmless and just plain politics. In this case, however, it could prove dangerous.